Uptrade
by Helen8462
Summary: Neelix gives Naomi an apple. What she does with it changes all of their lives. [A feel-good, Voyager family piece.]
1. Apples

**A/N:** Set early in the seventh season.

The idea for this story came from two places: An episode of DS9 where Nog swaps a bunch of random stuff (including Sisko's desk) to get parts that Chief O'Brien needs to repair the station [Treachery, Faith and the Great River]. And an article I read a while ago about a man who started with a red paperclip then traded a series of things to end up with a house.

I know my own little kids are pretty crafty, thought I might see what Naomi could do on Voyager. Enjoy and please review!

* * *

 _Love people. Use things. The opposite never works._

 _-theminimalists_

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1: Apples**

It was a quiet afternoon in the mess hall. Neelix sat with his hands folded contemplatively in front of him, fully commanding the attention of a blonde-haired girl.

"I once heard of a man, a very skilled trader mind you, who took a single piece of over-ripe fruit and ended up with his own starship."

"Really?" Naomi asked skeptically over her glass of lemonade.

"Oh yes, let's see. I think he traded the fruit for a container of water. The water for a tool. The tool for….uh, the tool…." The Talaxian scratched his head. "Actually I don't remember but you get the picture. Each trade added just a little tiny bit of value until eventually…"

"He got a ship?" Naomi looked at Neelix, still not quite buying his tale but not entirely closed to the possibility.

"That's right."

"So, if I try really hard I could trade up and own Voyager?" Naomi asked.

Neelix smiled at her. "Mmmm, I'm not sure about that. Captain Janeway seems pretty attached to her ship, and in a way Voyager already belongs to all of us." He noticed that the little girl's face fell so he recovered. "But it couldn't hurt to try. I'll tell you what…" Neelix rose from his seat and walked over to the kitchen counter. He spun the fruit bowl around while throwing a playful glance back to Naomi. "I'll give you this apple here." He carefully chose the nicest one and rubbed it on his shirt. "Take this, and see what you can do with it."

Naomi grinned widely. "Thanks!"

The little girl looked at the shiny red apple in her hand then back up to Neelix. "Now what?"

Neelix chuckled. "Now you find someone that wants an apple and you see what they have for you in return."

Naomi hopped down from her seat. She walked around the mess hall. There were only a few people since dinner hadn't officially started yet. She eyed each patron closely. A few were engaged in conversation and she didn't want to be rude. The Delaney sisters were always very nice to her, but they both had full plates of food already. Ensign Baytart however was sitting in the corner studying a PADD. Naomi noticed the officer only had a cup of coffee and figured this might just be the man who wanted a nice shiny apple. She walked over to him.

"Hi," she said.

The ensign looked up from his PADD. "Hi there," he said playfully. "What's up short stuff?"

Naomi crinkled her brow at the term but then realized she had to stay professional. "Want an apple?"

Baytart looked at the fruit. "Sure, thanks," he replied and he took it from her outstretched hand.

Naomi just stared at him as he bit into her merchandise. Baytart, his mouth full of apple, stopped chewing at stared back. "Wha?" Little drops of juice rolled over his lips.

The girl narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure," she said. This was not going as she had planned. "You're supposed to give me something now."

Baytart chewed and swallowed his bite. "I am?"

"Mmm, hmm," she said, matter-of-factly.

Baytart looked at the apple again, then to his PADD – which he needed - and then his drink. "You want my mug?"

Naomi thought for a second then realized this was success. "Sure!" She replied excitedly. It wasn't a starship but she had made her first trade.

She took the mug from the tabletop and went back over to Neelix who was doing his best not to laugh. He waved a small thank-you to the ensign who, still a bit confused, went back to his reading and his snack.

"How'd it go?" Neelix asked her, as if he hadn't been watching.

"Great! I got this," she said, thrusting the dirty dishware into Neelix's hand. Some leftover coffee sloshed out onto the table.

"Uh…okay. Well, that's something," he said, considering his next options. "You know, that was a pretty good first try. But I think we might need to start again." Neelix took the mug back to the kitchen and put it with the other dirty dishes for washing. Naomi followed him and waited patiently by the counter.

"Mr. Baytart didn't really have anything to offer you that would be worth a trade. It would be hard to find someone who will want to have a dirty mug, remember I told you that each trade has to _add_ a little bit of value."

Naomi nodded her head, she understood now. Neelix reached back into the bowl of fruit and handed her another apple. "Hang onto this. Not too long, but just long enough."

* * *

Apple in hand, Naomi Wildman started walking the corridors of Voyager. _What do I do with this?_ She thought. _I need someone hungry with something more valuable to trade._

She was headed back to her quarters to consider her next move when she came upon Holodeck 2. The doors opened and a very angry B'Elanna Torres came storming out. The little girl could swear there was actually smoke coming out of the Klingon's ears. Naomi's eyes widened in surprise and just a little bit of fear as the woman came toward her.

B'Elanna stopped and stooped down then pointed a finger at Naomi's chest. "Don't ever, EVER, marry a pilot," she seethed. Then the chief engineer let out a frustrated grunt and continued down the corridor.

Naomi looked at the apple in her hand and knew exactly where she needed to head next.

* * *

The doors of the Airponics bay swished open in front of the child still carrying a very valuable apple. She could only hope that there would be red roses in bloom and that Ensign Doug Bronowski was hungry.

She found the gardener humming lightly while tending to his duties. He appeared to be planting vegetable seedlings.

"Hi Naomi," he said when he saw her. "How are you today?"

"I'm good," she replied. "How are the flowers?"

"Just as pretty as you," he smiled back at her, dusting his hands on his gardening apron.

"I need some and I'll give you this apple if you help me."

Doug looked at the fruit in her hand. "Actually, I am kinda hungry. I skipped lunch today." He walked away from the lettuces and came to the end of the isle to meet her. "What kind of flowers did you want?"

Naomi led him to the red roses in the next aisle. "Those," she said, pointing.

Doug chuckled. Usually the only person who wanted red roses was Tom Paris after he'd screwed something up. Lord knows Tom had used up a lot of rations on those roses. He half-wondered if the pint-sized visitor had a little crush. Usually she just wanted something small and pretty for her mother.

"I've only got four red ones blooming right now, but they're all yours if you want them."

Naomi smiled widely and held out the apple to him.

"Trade number one, complete," she stated proudly.


	2. Patience

**CHAPTER 2 - Patience**

A very confident Naomi Wildman walked purposefully back to Holodeck 2. The computer had just confirmed that Tom was still there. When she reached the doors she was suddenly nervous for what program she would walk into. She had been told not to go into a holodeck unless there was an adult with her, something about 'questionable content'. But surely an exception could be made in this case. She looked to the computer screen to see what was running. "21st Century Flight Simulator" the panel had told her. There didn't seem to be anything questionable about that.

Naomi held the roses behind her back and entered.

Suddenly, the world around her was moving. She was inside some kind of very old, very large spacecraft. It was also quite loud and rather bumpy. She put one hand out to grip the side of the vehicle. Tom was in the front of the ship, harnessed to the seat. Through the forward window she could see a big red planet coming into view. The vehicle shuddered again and Naomi suddenly realized this was probably a bad idea.

"Computer, freeze program," she said.

Tom jerked to attention suddenly and lifted his hands from the console. "What's the matter B'Elanna, too bumpy for you?" When there was no response, he glanced over his shoulder. "B'Elanna?"

"She left," Naomi replied softly. She was still a bit shaken from the unexpected ride.

Tom unclipped himself and got up from his seat. "Hey Naomi, what are you doing here? And where did B'Elanna go?"

"She left ten minutes ago. I think she's mad at you."

Tom thought a moment. "Ten minutes ago? I thought she was working on the fuel injectors…" Then he put two and two together and realized that once again, he had been ignoring her.

"We were supposed to be on a date, but I guess I got a little caught up in this new program I found." Naomi gave him a concerned look. "I should probably go apologize."

Naomi nodded. "Probably a good idea." Then she put on a bright smile. "Want these?" She asked and presented the roses.

* * *

After Naomi's second swap she started to notice that not only was this getting a little easier, but that in addition to getting higher value items, she was also helping people. Tom was all too happy to take the roses and patch up the evening with his wife. And in return for her trouble, Naomi now had two full hours of holodeck time on the books with which to make her next trade. After making sure that the computer recorded the allotment for her, she decided to take a trip back to see her mentor.

"Hey kiddo," Neelix said, coming out from behind his counter. He noticed that she no longer had the fruit he had given her. Dinner was ramping up now and crew members mingled about happily filling their plates. "You didn't eat your merchandise, did you?"

"Nope!" She replied happily. "I bartered with it!"

"Good girl, what did you trade it for?"

"Flowers. And then I traded the flowers for two whole hours on the holodeck," she beamed.

"Well, well, well!" Neelix replied, a proud smile on his face. "Sounds like you're a natural."

Just then, Naomi's mother walked into the mess hall. "Hi sweetie, sorry I'm late." The ensign bent down to kiss her daughters cheek. "Hungry for dinner?"

Naomi was about to protest and explain that she had further work to do, but then her stomach growled in protest. "Yeah, I guess."

"Sleep on it," Neelix suggested, bending down to talk to her softly. "The trader I told you about, it took him years to get to that starship. The best deals are discovered with a lot of patience."

* * *

Patience, it seemed, was exactly what this girl did not have a lot of. Poor Naomi. She went to bed thinking about those holodeck hours. Then she dreamed about them and when she woke up, she thought about them some more. Her mother, who noticed that the little girl was inordinately distracted, had mistakenly thought that something was wrong. Naomi simply told her that she was trying to understand a lesson that Neelix had taught her. After all, if she did end up owning Voyager she would want it to be a surprise.

Ensign Wildman dropped her daughter off at sickbay for her morning biology lesson and kissed her on the top of the head before reporting for duty.

"Good Morning Miss Wildman," the doctor greeted her cheerfully. "Ready to continue our foray into the exciting world of mitosis?"

Naomi sighed. Her heart just wasn't going to be in this today. The doctor had just pulled her lesson onto the screen when two crewmen walked in. One of them was cradling his arm.

"What happened here?" the doctor asked, averting his attention.

"I slipped and fell down a few rungs in the Jeffries tube," the injured crewman replied. "Think I pulled something." Naomi wasn't sure who either of them were but this distraction was certainly more interesting than cell structure. She decided she would call the injured one "Mr. Broken." Mr. Broken had a yellow uniform on and he was rather tall. _Skinny too_ , she thought. The other man, the one that had accompanied Mr. Broken, was also in a yellow uniform but was shorter with darker hair. She was going to call him Mr. Helper. She checked quickly to make sure that Mr. Helper didn't have any pips, otherwise he might need to be called Ensign or Lieutenant Helper. _Nope, no pips,_ she thought. She thought that the two looked familiar but couldn't quite place them. They were talking casually while the doctor tended to Mr. Broken's shoulder.

"I'd give just about anything to have a couple hours in astrometrics," she heard Mr. Helper say to Mr. Broken. "But by the time Seven and the other lab rats are done for the day, I'm on duty. I'd totally be willing to miss sleep for the day but…."

 _Night shifters,_ Naomi thought. _That's why I don't see know them._

"All fixed up Mr. Biddle. Watch your step next time," the doctor said. Naomi looked up to see the tall man hop off the bio bed. She noticed that he was in fact provisional. _Maquis_ , she thought. The men left sickbay.

"Ready to continue?" the doctor asked cheerfully returning his attention her.

She let out a long sigh.

* * *

Naomi continued her day in a distracted fog. At lunch, she had chosen a seat alone in the back of the mess hall. The girl had completely forgotten to eat her food in favor people watching. She was searching for signs that someone might need a relaxing hour or two in the holodeck. By the time she retrained her attention on her soup, it was cold.

"How's it going there, lil Miss Merchant?"

Naomi looked up to see Neelix joining her from across the table.

"Not great," she replied, spooning at her soup and letting it plop back into the bowl.

"Something wrong with your lunch?"

"No, it's fine." she looked back up to him. "I can't figure out how to trade these holodeck hours."

"Mmm hmm…." Neelix nodded understandingly. "And they're burning a hole in your pocket?"

Naomi looked down at her pants.

"It's a figure of speech," he explained. "You don't want to hold onto your item, you want the next thing."

"Yes."

"Patience is a prison," Neelix offered. "But you'll figure out what to do with those rations. And even if your trading ends here, you can still have two full hours with Flodder all to yourself."

"Yeah…I guess." But these two hours were special, she thought. They were going to get her a starship.

"I have to get back to work, the lunch rush is starting." He gave her a kind smile and a wink. "Hang in there."

Naomi returned to her chicken and noodles. Two hours with Flodder would be fun. Maybe she could ask Seven to join her, it had been a while since they had played anything but kadis-kot together.

Then, floating in between the noodles and chicken chunks, Naomi saw an opportunity. Seven. If she could get Seven out of Astrometrics for an hour Mr. Helper would "do just about anything."

Naomi knew for certain what her next move would be. If only she knew who Mr. Helper was.


	3. Nebulas

**CHAPTER 3 - Nebulas**

Naomi's alarm sounded softly at 0300 hours, just as she had programmed it to do. Quietly, she changed out of her pjs and back into her day clothes. She padded out of her room and into the living area with a quick check to make sure that her mother was still asleep. Then she sat at the desk.

"Computer, locate Crewman Biddle," she said softly.

 _Crewman Biddle is in main engineering._

Naomi smiled. _Perfect_ , she thought. Then she silently left her quarters.

The ship was strange in the night hours. It was very quiet and even though she knew the light level was the same as during the day, it just seemed darker. No one was milling in the halls or moving from deck to deck. No voices could be heard from inside the closed rooms. She passed exactly no one on her journey.

The doors to main engineering hissed open but no one was there to see her. She walked in hesitantly and approached the railing around the warp core.

"Woah, hey there kiddo," she heard from a deep voice to her right.

Naomi turned. A muscular, dark skinned engineer was coming out of the small work area adjacent to the core. She recognized him but wasn't sure of his name.

"Are you lost?" He asked, concerned.

"No, I'm looking for someone. Who are you?"

"I'm Ensign Ashmore."

"Oh yeah," she said suddenly putting a name with the face. "You were at B'Elanna's birthday party."

The ensign nodded. "That's right. Who are you looking for?"

"Crewman Biddle," she replied confidently. _So far so good,_ she thought. She half-expected that the first person she met would escort her directly back to her quarters.

The ensign tapped his combadge. "Ashmore to Biddle."

 _Biddle here._

"You busy?"

 _Nope._

"Come down to Main would you? You have a visitor."

 _Be right there._

Naomi smiled at the ensign. "Thanks!"

"No problem. But hey, does your mom know you're here?"

Naomi looked at her shoes. "Uh…. Yeah. She's the one that sent me actually," she lied. The ensign raised an eyebrow and Naomi worried he was on to her. Luckily crewman Biddle appeared, having climbed down from the landing above and broke the line of questioning.

"Hey. It's Naomi, right?" Biddle asked as he walked up.

Naomi nodded. "Sorry to bother you…."

Biddle looked at Ashmore with a smirk before replying; as if this was possibly the most exciting thing that had ever happened on night shift. "No bother at all. We're not doing much of anything tonight."

Naomi took this as a good sign but she was still rather uncomfortable. Engineering seemed very weird with these strangers working here. For some reason she imagined that B'Elanna, Joe Carey and Vorik were just always on duty.

"There was a crewman with you yesterday in sickbay when you hurt your arm."

Biddle nodded. "That's right. Henard. Danny Henard, why?"

"Henard," Naomi repeated, committing the name to memory. "Is he in engineering too?"

"Sure is."

Ensign Ashmore tapped his combadge again and in a few minutes Crewman Henard joined their little party. As he walked up, Ashmore had to smile. "There's only one more engineer on nightshift. Want me to call her too?"

Naomi frowned. "I don't think so…."

"What's going on?" Henard asked.

"Crewman Henard," Naomi began. "When you were in sickbay with uh…." She thought a moment. Too many names. "With him," she pointed. "Biddle. When you were with Biddle you said that you would give just about anything to have an hour in Astrometrics."

"That's right," Henard agreed crossing his arms over his chest.

"I may have a way to get you that hour."

Henard raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Now came the part Naomi hated. "Yes. If you want to make a trade…."

Another person interrupted her line of thought. "What do you want with Astrometrics?" This time it was a softer voice as a woman came around the other side of the warp core. "And why wasn't I invited to this party?"

"Harper, meet Naomi Wildman," Ensign Ashmore said with a chuckle. The humor of having all of the night-shift engineers together for a meeting by the warp core with a six-year old was not lost on him.

"I know Naomi," Crewman Natalie Harper said smiling, she kneeled down to the girl's level. Naomi liked Natalie's hair, it was blonde and long like her own and was tied up in a neat ponytail. She had been told that the woman used to babysit her on occasion, but she was too young at the time to remember.

"Does your mom know you're here?" Harper asked her.

"I'm um….yes. I'm going back to my room in just a minute," she replied quickly. It was harder to lie to someone she knew, and another girl at that.

"What do you say Mr. Henard?" Naomi asked, returning her attention to her target. "If I can get you an hour in Astrometrics…."

"What do you want with the lab anyway?" Ashmore questioned.

"There's a Class T nebula coming up," he explained. "My father took me through one once when I was a little kid. Not much older than Naomi here actually. I thought it might be fun to have a look with some of Voyager's advanced sensors. Nebulas are kinda my thing," he shrugged, and Naomi thought he looked a little embarrassed.

"That's sweet Hey," Harper replied genuinely.

"Yeah, real sweet," Biddle agreed, rolling his eyes.

Henard, now smiling, returned his attention to the little girl. "If you can get me an hour in astrometrics, I have the perfect thing to trade you."

* * *

Naomi settled herself back into her bed. Her late-night experience in engineering had left her an odd mixture of sleepy and very excited. She didn't know what Crewman Henard had to trade, he wanted it to be a surprise, but she thought it must be pretty wonderful because his smile was so big when he thought about giving it to her.

Naomi also realized that she wanted to spend more time with Natalie Harper. The woman was kind and gentle but she looked like she would also be a lot of fun. Naomi was glad that Natalie had walked her back to her quarters so that they could talk a little more. They had also arranged to have breakfast in a few days….thought it would be more like a bedtime snack for the crewman.

This trading thing was working out. Naomi was internally very proud of herself, not just for the items she was receiving, but for the experiences. She wondered if Neelix knew that during this process she would be making friends and helping others. He probably knew. Neelix seemed to know most things, at least, most things that were important to know.


	4. Gilded Princesses

**CHAPTER 4 – Gilded Princesses**

The next morning Naomi Wildman was tired. Really, really tired. Between the excitement of her late-night exchange in engineering and missing several extra hours of sleep due to said excitement she felt like she wouldn't be able to get out of bed at all. Then, she had to expend even more energy to convince her mother that she was in fact fine and sleeping in her clothes was a normal thing to do. By the time she had made it through the doctor's morning lesson on cell wall structure she was ready to drop.

But, she had now come upon the most crucial time of her day so she drank a big glass of apple juice from the replicator and went to see Seven.

"Naomi Wildman," Seven said, turning ever so slightly from the center console in astrometrics to see who had joined her.

"Hi Seven!" The girl replied. She hopped up to the former drone with newfound, juice-induced energy. "Whatcha up to?"

Seven regarded her. "There is a cluster of red giant stars in a rare formation roughly 22 light years off starboard. I am gathering data so that the captain can decide whether or not to make a detour for further study."

"Oh," Naomi's face fell. "So you're busy?"

"That is correct," Seven replied without looking up. Then she thought a moment and turned to the girl. "Was there something you required?"

"I wanted to see if you would come to the holodeck with me. I have an hour of Flodder time and it's not as much fun alone." In her mind she could think of nothing but ' _please, please, please!_ '

"I will be occupied here for the rest of the day. Perhaps you should ask Neelix to join you," Seven suggested.

"He's busy too," she lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Neelix could be busy she just wasn't quite sure. "How about tomorrow? Would you come with me tomorrow?"

Seven searched her mental calendar. "Yes. Tomorrow would be acceptable."

Naomi grinned with excitement. Everything was coming together. "Oh thank you! That's great!" Then she paused, "uh….what time? You know, so I can reserve the slot?"

"1100 hours. I will meet you there," Seven replied.

"Perfect!"

Naomi decided now would be the time to take her leave before Seven changed her mind. But she stopped halfway across the room. "Uh, Seven? Will there be anyone else in astrometrics tomorrow, you know, when we're with Flodder?"

Seven turned to her with a puzzled expression on her face. "Unlikely. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Have fun with the red giants."

"Fun is irrelevant. However, this data is important to the captain so I will enjoy seeing the eventual outcome of my efforts."

"If you say so," Naomi replied with a shrug. And then she left, another trade firmly within reach.

* * *

Naomi was all too happy to leave a message for Crewman Henard to receive when he woke up. The next day, Astrometrics was his for an hour and, as an added bonus, she got to enjoy the holodeck. In fact, she enjoyed her time with Seven and Flodder so much that by the end of the hour she had almost forgotten that Henard would be meeting her to hand over his payment. He was waiting for her in the corridor outside her quarters when she returned for lunch. He had both hands behind his back.

"Mr. Henard," she said when she saw him, anticipation building in her belly. "Did you get what you wanted from astrometrics?"

He smiled brightly at her and showed her a hand full of a stack of PADD's. "I did, I got more data than I could have ever hoped for. You'll have to let me show you the images some time." Then he paused and stooped down a bit. "And it's Danny. Or Hey, my friends call me Hey."

"Okay, Hey," she giggled.

"I have something for you." Then he pulled the other hand out from behind his back. In it was a book; a very ornate one at that. "I bought this for my niece from a trader when Voyager was docked at Deep Space Nine, just before we left for the badlands," he explained. "I was saving it for her, but the truth is it was just collecting dust and by the time we get home she'll be too old to appreciate it anyway." He held the book out to her.

Naomi took it with both hands. It was large and heavy with a beautifully illustrated cover. There were pretty ladies with long blonde hair highlighted in gilded gold. One was on a large white horse. A sparkling castle was in the background. There were green grasses and opalescent flowers all over the ground. The back of the book was inlaid with dried petals and it smelled faintly of a sweet perfume.

"They're princess stories. Fairy tales," Henard told her. "Cinderella, Snow White and some others you've probably heard already. But there's also Bajoran ones and a few from some other cultures I don't know much about." Naomi felt like she couldn't possibly smile any larger. She flipped through the pages and the vivid pictures seemed to jump off the pages.

"Thank you," she said genuinely. This exchange, she realized, it was more than payment. It was a gift. There would be no way she could trade this for anything else.

"Thank you so much."


	5. Fancy Broccoli

**CHAPTER 5 – Fancy Broccoli**

Naomi spent the rest of the day enjoying her book. When it was time for her mother to come home, she hid it under her bed. She would share it eventually, but for now the book was just for her and she wanted to enjoy in secret. It was, quite possibly, the nicest thing anyone had ever given her.

But now she had a bit of a dilemma. She was enjoying the trading experience but she seemed to be at a dead end. She had one hour of holodeck time left with which to bargain but no idea who might want it. She decided it best to talk with Neelix in the morning. And that's exactly what she did.

"An hour of holodeck time?" Neelix repeated, rubbing his chin. "Hmm…." He shrugged. "You know, I'm not sure who would need that right now, or more importantly, who would pay for it. I'll tell you what, I'll keep my ears open and if I hear anything I'll let you know."

"Thanks Neelix," she replied, somewhat forlorn.

"This might be a good time for you to take a break for a while. The best soups are the ones that are left to simmer," he advised her. Naomi shook her head. Neelix seemed to have an awful lot of platitudes about waiting around for things to happen.

* * *

The Talaxian was wrong. Her soup wasn't simmering, it was boiling. For the next week she felt as if her hearing were on Red Alert. She was constantly searching, listening, hoping that something would jump out at her. She dreamed about that holodeck hour and what it might turn into. She attempted interjecting herself into conversations but they just ended awkwardly. She tried scanning the holodeck logs to see who might not have had a turn in a while. But everything ended in a dead end.

The whole business was becoming rather tiresome until one day she noticed that she wasn't thinking about it quite as much as the day before. Another week passed. One morning after her mom left for breakfast, she decided to pay a visit to Neelix before her morning lessons. She was going to inform him that she was officially done with trading and ask that he join her for an hour of play with Flodder.

"Ah, Naomi!" Neelix greeted her cheerfully. "Just the girl I wanted to see."

"Oh?"

He sidled up to her by the breakfast counter. "You still have that hour of holodeck time, don't you?"

Naomi nodded, defeated. "Yeah, I do."

"Well, it just so happens that your soup is done simmering," he replied with a smile.

"Someone needs my holo-ration?" She asked, astonished.

"Yes ma'am. I overheard Lieutenant Ayala this morning saying that he wished he had an extra hour of time for his date with Megan Delaney tonight. Apparently, he only has two and he's hoping it will be more of a three hour kind of thing…if you know what I..." Neelix waggled his eyebrows, then realized who he was talking to and cleared his throat.

Naomi smiled brightly. "That's great!" Then she looked suddenly downtrodden. "You know, I like this trading stuff, but it's hard for me to ask for something in return. I feel sorta guilty."

Neelix nodded. "That's normal, and it's good. It means you're a kind and giving person. The type of person someone would want to be friends with." He put his arm around her. "So, I'm going to help you out one further. I happen to have it on good authority that tonight is Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay's weekly dinner together. It's the Captain's turn to cook, which is something she absolutely hates to do. I also happen to know that Ayala's father was a chef in a very nice restaurant back on Earth. The lieutenant has a stash of replicator recipes that he keeps very close to the chest. But I'm fairly certain that if you ask on behalf of the Captain and his former Maquis Captain, he'd be willing to share."

Naomi nodded with a grin. "Excellent!"

She was back in the game.

* * *

Tracking down Lt. Ayala, who now insisted on being called "Mike", had been a piece of cake. Actually, it had been a piece of triple-chocolate cheesecake which the Captain and First Officer would be having for dessert this evening. Right after they dined on mushroom-stuffed prawns, cranberry walnut salad and pan-seared Atlantic salmon with something called 'ragout' and fancy broccoli. Naomi wasn't quite sure what all of those foods were but she thought that it was sounded like something adults would enjoy. She much preferred spaghetti and meatballs, with chocolate milk of course.

Mike had been all too happy to share his recipes in return for the hour of holo-time. He was apparently quite fond of Megan and was about to tell Naomi what he had planned to do with that hour, then thought better of himself and stopped talking. She wondered why people kept doing that.

As for the Captain Janeway, Naomi decided that she didn't want anything else in return. Truth be told this trading thing had been more stressful than fun. And there was no way she could ask the captain of the ship for any kind of payment. She was perfectly happy to let the experience end with a nice dinner for the command team. So, she transferred the replicator recipes to a PADD and left it leaning against the door to Janeway's quarters. Then she dusted her hands of the whole matter and went about her day.

The next morning in the mess hall, while studying for her upcoming quiz on cell division, Naomi was greeted by a most unexpected guest. Commander Chakotay sat down across from her and slid her a glass of apple juice.

"Commander?" Naomi asked, surprised.

"Good morning Naomi," he replied with a dimpled smile. She always thought it was funny how his cheeks poked in when he was happy. "I had to come by and thank you for what you did for Captain Janeway yesterday."

"How did you…." she trailed off. It was basically his ship too, after all. Of course he would know.

"Dinner was delicious. It was quite possibly the nicest meal Kathryn and I have had in the last seven years."

Naomi blushed. She thought it was strange to hear him call the captain by her first name. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"You know, Kathryn always hates her turn at cooking. She jumped to conclusions and thought that I was the one who left the PADD," Chakotay explained. "I figured you wanted it to be a secret, so I didn't clue her in. I hope you don't mind. I kind of took the credit."

Naomi shook her head. She didn't mind at all. "How did you know it was me?"

"Ayala mentioned it."

"Oh, right." _Maquis_ , she thought and took a sip of the apple juice.

"Actually, I should have thought to ask Ayala myself for his secret recipes. I didn't realize he was holding out on us all these years," Chakotay winked. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you and to give you something. Actually, I'd like to teach you something in return."

Naomi's bit her lip. She had expected her trading days to be behind her, but here she was again the recipient….

The commander stood to take his leave. "I'll meet you at your quarters after Alpha shift, around 1630. Make sure you have a clean table we can work on."

Naomi nodded at him with a grin. "Okay!"

* * *

Naomi's mother returned to their quarters promptly at the end of Alpha shift to find her daughter cleaning. Red alert klaxons rang in her head and she stopped dead in her tracks just inside the door.

"Are you….cleaning?" she asked, just a little bit astounded.

"Yup," Naomi replied. She shoved a bunch of drawings into the waste recycler then hurried to pick up a pile of building sticks and stuffed animals from the floor.

"Um. Thank you. Is there a reason?" Her mother asked hesitantly. For a moment she thought there might actually be something really wrong with the girl.

"Commander Chakotay," Naomi replied. And she hurried into her bedroom with her belongings.

"Commander Chakotay." Samantha repeated. "You're cleaning for the first officer?"

"Yup," Naomi shouted from the next room.

"Okay….." Samantha shook her head, confused but rather pleased. Their quarters had never looked better.

"He's coming over." She scurried back into the living room. And just then the door chimed.

"He's here!" Naomi said excitedly. "Come in!"

With a little bit of shock, Samantha Wildman welcomed Voyager's first officer into her home for what was definitely the first time.

Chakotay regarded the woman. "I hope I'm not intruding Ensign, I promised Naomi that I'd teach her how to make a dreamcatcher this afternoon."

Samantha shook her head. "Not at all Commander, please come in and make yourself comfortable."

"Off-duty Chakotay is fine," he said with a smile and Naomi saw those strange little dimples come through again. Then he turned to the girl. "Okay Naomi, where should we set up?"

* * *

By the time they were done two hours had passed, two ice-cream sundaes had been eaten well-before dinner and together they had made a very elaborate dreamcatcher. Naomi had also heard several stories from Chakotay's childhood and a few colorful legends.

The dreamcatcher was made of sticks woven together with a tacky string and purple feathers – her favorite color – and had shiny iridescent beads tied into the center. He helped her to hang it on her wall. Then he explained that good dreams are clear and know their way to the dreamer as they descend through the feathers. The bad dreams however, are confused and cannot find their way through the web. They would be trapped until the rising of the sun burned them away. Or in her case, when she turned her lights on in the morning.

After he left she admired their handiwork. Upon contemplation, she was further pleased to realize that the best part of the afternoon was getting to know the commander better. She also, of course had the dreamcatcher and now possessed the knowledge on how to make another if she wanted to. That was like three trades in one. And all for the low price of some really fancy broccoli.


	6. Bits and Pieces

**CHAPTER 6 – Bits and Pieces**

Naomi wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but at some point she started to notice that people on the ship, many of whom she barely knew, were being nicer to her. Much, much nicer. Having been the only child on board it stood to reason that people were usually friendly. After all, she was pretty darn cute. There were some people who weren't entirely comfortable with children, but even they were smiling at her now. Something had definitely changed in these last few days. People she had never met were stopping to talk with her, introduce themselves even. She was actually being overwhelmed by names and faces. No one directly spoke of the various things she had been doing to help others in the course of her trading. But she got the feeling that word was spreading quickly, as word on Voyager tended to do.

Three days later, again in sickbay for a lesson – this time on fungal physiology – Naomi listened as an officer in a blue uniform asked the doctor for advice. She knew his name was Murphy and thought that he might have worked with her mother. After eavesdropping a bit she knew that he was having problems. The doctor used the term "insomniac." Which, she learned after looking it up, meant that he couldn't sleep. And Naomi knew exactly what to do.

It took her two evenings to complete her second dream catcher. It wasn't quite as perfect as the one in her bedroom, but overall she was happy with how it had turned out. This one was a teal color with dark blue gems that she had replicated to be more of a solid finish than opalescent. It was very stunning, and quite manly if she did say so herself. She instructed the computer to notify her to when Ensign Murphy returned to his quarters after work and when the alert came in at 1755 hours, she was on her way.

Ensign Murphy, whose first name was Peter but he preferred 'Pete', was all too pleased to see the pint-sized visitor, even if he did look rather tired. He was genuinely pleased by her thoughtfulness. She figured that even if the dreamcatcher was a bunch of hocus-pocus, a term she had learned from Tom Paris, that maybe the sentiment behind it would help Murphy sleep better. This time for her efforts she was gifted a nice warm feeling inside.

Possessing no further items with which to trade, Naomi Wildman focused her attentions elsewhere. She had started spending time with Natalie Harper. It turned out that Natalie was an excellent checkers player and loved to do jigsaw puzzles.

She also had breakfast one morning with Tom and B'Elanna. They had long since patched things up and B'Elanna offered her a wink and a smile, then whispered "pilots aren't so bad after all," before leaving for engineering. Naomi always liked B'Elanna. She admired the woman's strength and intelligence. But the Klingon was also compassionate in her own rather direct way. Naomi surmised B'Elanna would someday make a great mother, but she wasn't entirely sure that Tom would live to see it.

About a week after gifting the dreamcatcher to Pete Murphy, Naomi asked the doctor if the ensign had been back for more hyposprays. Unfortunately, she learned that he had been. As had another insomniac Ensign, Leslie Swinn. Leslie. Naomi knew Leslie. She was a Beta-shift engineer and one of the nicest people on the ship. Naomi loved her dark skin and her matching thick hair that was often worn in intricate braids. The girl hadn't seen her in a while and thought she might stop by to say hello.

As she walked down the corridor to Leslie's quarters a strange awareness hit her. She had been down this hallway recently. Leslie's room was right next to Pete's. What a strange coincidence, she thought. When she rang the chime, no one answered. So she went back to her quarters and started on another dreamcatcher, this time a yellow one.

* * *

Leslie, it seemed, was almost never at home. After two days of trying to reach the ensign in her quarters Naomi decided to find her on duty. The computer informed her that Leslie was in Cargo Bay 1. So, that's exactly where she went.

"Naomi!" Leslie said, a giant smile on her face when she saw the girl. "It's so good to see you!" Naomi gave her a hug in return. When she pulled away, she noticed that the woman looked stressed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," she replied. "The doctor told me that you weren't sleeping well. I wanted to see if you were okay."

"That's very sweet of you Naomi, but I'm fine."

The girl eyed the engineer a bit. She did look tired, but not nearly as tired as Pete had. Maybe the hyposprays were working better for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, things have been slow in engineering so I'm just doing a little bit of inventory work. Trying to see what spares we have and what we should be replicating. That kind of thing."

"Find anything interesting?"

"Actually…." Leslie turned and walked a few paces down the long isle of black storage containers. "Do you like to take things apart?"

Naomi crinkled her brow. "Um…I'm not sure."

"When I was a little kid, all I did was take stuff apart and try to put it back together again. I used to drive my mom crazy," she laughed at the memory. Naomi liked her laugh, it was genuine and clear like a bell.

"I guess I've never really done that," Naomi replied a bit confused. She thought it was an odd sounding activity.

"Oh, it's great fun! And a wonderful way to learn how things work," the engineer continued. "I started with a chronometer and never looked back. Of course, my parents were none too pleased when I took apart the replicator." Leslie scratched her head. "Now which bin…" She was peaked in each container of a row about halfway down the aisle. "Ah, here it is!" She pulled the one down and set it on the floor. Then turned her attention back to the child.

"When my parents had finally had enough of me destroying their things they took me to a reclamation facility. That's a fancy name for a junkyard."

"Like the one that Tom got that crazy shuttle from?"

Leslie smiled, "More or less, but this one wasn't in space." The engineer suddenly looked very far away. "Oh, Naomi, it was simply the most incredible place ever. All the broken down old things you would ever want. And the man there, Mr. Todd was his name, he was all too happy to let me have any of them. I learned more about engineering from that junk than I would have ever learned in the academy."

Leslie opened the container and slid it toward her. "And now it's your turn."

Naomi was now the proud owner of a big bin full of, well, junk. A microscope, a small computer terminal, some depleted power cells. There were also old combadges, flashlights and some other things she didn't recognize. And not one of them worked.

According to Leslie, Lieutenant Carey was a hoarder of epic proportions. And she "didn't know how his wife put up with him." Naomi wasn't quite sure what to do with all of this stuff. It was too much to bring back to her quarters, so for now, she took the microscope and went home with it under one arm.

Leslie had also given her something else. Slung over her should was a toolbox. And much to her excitement, inside that toolbox was her very own tricorder. Hers. Not one that she had to return to the doctor or her mother when she was done. The thought made her very happy indeed.

By the time Alpha shift was over, Naomi had taken the microscope completely apart. There were bits and pieces everywhere. Naomi was fairly certain it would never function again, but then if it had been worth saving it probably wouldn't have been in a container in the back of the cargo bay. Naomi had learned a little about the device. Mostly, she learned it had a lot of tiny parts.

She swept them into an empty toybox and stuffed them, you guessed it, under her bed.


	7. Caffinated

**CHAPTER 7 - Caffeinated**

The next morning, having temporarily had her fill of taking things apart – she did enjoy the process, just not the mess it made - Naomi focused her energies on completing the second dreamcatcher. She was going to try to intercept Leslie in engineering to give it to her but the computer told her that the Ensign was actually in her quarters. So, that's where she headed.

Leslie was apparently now feeling so ill from lack of rest that she was told to take the day off. Leslie, like Pete Murphy, was very appreciative of her thoughtful gift. The engineer seemed skeptical that this would help her sleep, but she promised to give it a try.

Naomi took her leave and exited into the hall but as she did so, she was almost ran over by a big, aqua-colored blur from next door. Crewman Chell was in quite a hurry, headed for the general direction of sickbay with one hand over his mouth. He barely even acknowledged that she was under his feet before sprinting off again. For a normally blue Bolian, he looked rather green, she thought.

As Naomi regained her footing, a little tiny light went off in her head. Three crew members all feeling ill and their quarters were right next to each other. How peculiar, she thought. Then she made her way to sickbay to talk to the doctor.

* * *

An hour later, Naomi was swinging her feet nervously on a biobed awaiting the return of B'Elanna Torres. She was in the company of Crewman Chell - who was no longer green but still clutching a bucket – Leslie Swinn, Pete Murphy and of course, the doctor. Chell had been quite obviously suffering the effects of having ingested a large amount of caffeine, which Naomi had learned is a substance that does not agree with the otherwise cast-iron Bolian digestive tract. The mystery was where he had consumed it.

The doors to sickbay whooshed open. "She was right," B'Elanna said walking briskly in to the others.

The doctor raised a holographic eyebrow. And all eyes turned to the engineer. Another woman in red uniform also entered behind her.

"The replicator central processing unit for that section of crew quarters is malfunctioning. It's caffeinating all of the beverages," B'Elanna explained.

"That's why we haven't been sleeping?" Murphy asked in astonishment.

Swinn simply shook her head. "It's been three weeks since I've had a good night's rest. I've tried everything, warm milk, hot tea, my grandmother's bullion broth…"

"All caffeinated," B'Elanna confirmed.

"What about you?" Swinn asked, turning to the woman in the red uniform.

B'Elanna addressed the doctor and Naomi first. "Ensign Brooks' is Murphy's neighbor on the other side. The quarters next to Chell were also affected but they're vacant."

Before the woman in red had a chance to respond, Pete interjected with a question to the doctor. "You examined me each time I came in complaining I couldn't sleep. Shouldn't you have noticed something?"

The doctor began running his tricorder over each of them again. "Caffeine metabolizes in 4 to 6 hours. I'm guessing that by the time you tossed and turned through the majority of your night and made it to sickbay you hadn't had anything else to drink, or you had more coffee to keep you awake for the next day."

Leslie nodded. "That's right. Both times I came to see you I had breakfast in the mess hall, not my quarters."

"Me too." Pete realized. "And I was drinking Neelix's coffee."

Chell chimed in. "I guess I'm glad Bolians don't have to consume liquids very often. The glass of tonic I ordered this morning was the first beverage I've had from my replicator in weeks."

The doctor stopped short of acknowledging them as he finished his scan of Brooks. "Ensign," he said as a concerned expression washed over his features. "You have nearly lethal levels of caffeine in your system. I have to treat you immediately. Don't you feel terrible?"

Brooks shrugged. Naomi noticed apart from her apparent poisoning she looked fine. "All I drink is coffee. I guess I'm used to it."

The other crewmen stared at her in disbelief.

B'Elanna simply shook her head, "She must be related to the captain."

* * *

After scuttlebutt had a chance to circulate this time, Naomi definitely noticed a difference in how people were treating her. She was fairly certain she had now personally met everyone on board Voyager. She had entertained more little compliments and pats on the back than she could keep track of. And she met each one with a shy smile. She didn't really crave the recognition, in fact it made her a little self-conscious, but she was very happy that the Pete, Leslie, Chell and Ensign Brooks wouldn't have to suffer any longer. The doctor said she should be proud of her powers of observation. And she was.

Two days later, the group of now decaffeinated crewmen were waiting for her at a table for breakfast. Over a meal of bagels and juice they thanked her profusely and assured her that they were sleeping quite well again. And poor Chell had stopped retching. When the others got up to return to duty, Ensign Brooks - who was now to be called Maria - remained behind.

"It was a really nice thing you did for us," Maria told her. "You have good instincts. Thank you for acting on them."

Naomi blushed and pushed the rest of her fruit around her plate. "It was nothing," she replied quietly.

Maria put her hand on the little girl's arm. "The doctor told me that if I had drank even another glass of water from that replicator I could have had a heart attack."

Naomi looked at her wide-eyed.

"You saved my life. I truly believe that," Maria held out a small box to the girl. "I know this isn't much, but I wanted to thank you."

Naomi just stared at her. Another gift. She shook her head. "I can't…." She said, and she truly meant it. Naomi didn't need more things, the relief that everyone was okay was enough for her.

"I insist," Maria replied, putting the box in her hand. "Wear it in good health."

Then Maria left, but not before giving the girl a quiet little kiss on the top of her head.

* * *

When Samantha Wildman returned home after work she found her daughter sitting quietly on the couch staring at the box.

"Hi sweetie," she greeted her. "Everything ok?"

Naomi nodded without looking up.

"How was your day?"

"Good," she replied finally breaking her glare with the gift that remained unopened.

"Did you enjoy your breakfast with the others?"

"Yes," the girl replied "Everyone thanked me again."

Samantha sat next to her daughter and considered the box but didn't ask. She waited patiently until her the girl offered further explanation for her uncharacteristically pensive mood.

Finally, Naomi spoke. "Maria Brooks says I saved her life." Her mother could see small tears forming in the girl's eyes.

"I've heard."

"It scares me. If I hadn't noticed…." The girl looked up at her mother.

"But you did notice sweetheart. And now everyone is fine."

Naomi sighed and nodded her head.

"She gave me this, but I didn't open it. And I don't want it. I started out with an apple," she explained. "I wanted to get….stuff in return. But now the whole thing seems kind of silly."

Samantha sighed. "The most important things don't come in boxes. I think you know that."

"You should have this," Naomi realized, and she handed gift to her mother.

Samantha opened the box. Inside was a simple silver chain with a round locket. Samantha smiled. "It's beautiful," she said. "I'll put your picture inside and I'll wear it every day."


	8. Blue Goo

**CHAPTER 8 – Blue Goo**

A day later Naomi decided that it was time to have a bit of fun with the tricorder Leslie had given her. She had used a tricorder only briefly before during some of her lessons with the doctor and once while observing Seven. Her mother was happy to teach her how to scan for life signs and power signatures. She showed her daughter how to record sounds and compare two objects. Naomi played around with it in her quarters for the rest of the evening.

The next afternoon Naomi took to the halls with her nifty new tool. She scanned everything. She scanned the walls and the floors. She investigated the windows in the mess hall and all of Neelix's ingredients. She even examined all of the crewmembers, at least, the ones that didn't look at her too funny.

She then took the tricorder back to her quarters and downloaded the data. It absolutely amazed her that this little box could gather and understand so much information. It knew the blood-types and bone densities of the people. It knew the metallurgical compounds in the bulkheads and the thickness of the glass. It knew the nutritional and caloric properties of each of Neelix's foods. She was smitten.

After her lesson each afternoon Naomi would take to another part of the ship to indulge her latest obsession. Then, one day Naomi noticed that the tricorder lit up like a firefly when she passed a specific point on Deck 4. She walked back and forth several times before she finally stopped in front of a junction panel. Just what was going on inside that wall? The readings indicated that there was something alive back there but also a lot of data being transferred.

Naomi knew that she wasn't supposed to mess with ship systems. She knew exactly that she simply wasn't. But, curiosity and six-year-olds often don't mix. She wanted more than anything to open that panel. Unfortunately there were too many people around. _Night shift,_ she thought. And that's exactly when she came back.

At 0300 hours, Naomi left her quarters and returned to Deck 4, Section 6. She very cautiously looked around for people, but of course there were none. Then she carefully pulled the panel open. Inside was a blue bag. It looked like it was full of some kind of slimy goo. Maybe this is where Tom Paris got that horrible jello stuff he had made her try. The bag was hanging from a clamp and had tubes attached to it. _Bio-neural gel pack,_ she realized. She had heard about them, but never actually seen one. She knew they were very special and very important.

Naomi had believed that all of the gel packs were all in one place. She imagined that they were located in the central computer core. But apparently they were all over the ship, hidden in the walls and who knew where else. Naomi carefully put the panel back in place and returned to bed. _What fun,_ she thought. _Tomorrow, I'm going on a scavenger hunt._

Naomi spent her independent study time the next morning learning more about the bio-neural gel packs. Thought she stayed away from a schematic of where they were located. She wanted to see how many she could find on her own. She assumed there were probably some in places she wasn't supposed to go, like engineering or the bridge. But she'd figure a way to get to those ones eventually.

Naomi decided that a methodical search pattern would be best. So, channeling her best little borg-self, she started at Deck 2 and followed a strict plan. Corridor by corridor and room by room she scanned. Of course, she couldn't go into the private quarters, but she did enter a few labs and common areas.

It had taken the girl nearly three straight days but she had finally finished her scavenger hunt of all 15 decks, well, 14 actually. She couldn't just show up on the bridge with a tricorder. She had located a total of 54 gel packs in the generally accessible areas. At 1545 hours on the third day she sat down to her computer station.

Naomi asked the computer to make a map of the locations of the gel packs she had discovered. On the screen she saw displayed all of the places she had scanned. Then she asked the computer what else it could do with the data, because truly she wasn't quite sure.

Following the trail of a series of commands that the computer suggested Naomi stumbled around the information she now possessed. Truth be told she was starting to get a headache. Somewhere along the line she asked the computer to compare the packs. She was curious if they were all the same. That's when she noticed something odd. The packs that she scanned today seemed to be larger than the packs she scanned yesterday. And those were larger than the ones from the day before. She wasn't sure, but she thought that the packs should all be the same size. There was only really one explanation. The packs were growing overnight.

Naomi had a sinking feeling in her stomach. The same feeling as when she noticed that Chell was falling ill right next to two insomniacs.

Something was very, very wrong.

Naomi grabbed her tricorder and ran out the door, or at least, that's what she intended to do. Instead she ran right into her mother.

"Woah, hey!" Samantha said, startled. "Where are you going in such a rush?"

"I….um…." Naomi stuttered. "I'll be right back, I promise." And before her mother could stop her, she was out the door and gone.

Naomi hurried back to Deck 4 where the first gel pack she had stumbled upon resided. She quickly scanned behind the panel and tapped the tricorder interface.

1.2%

The pack had grown 1.2% since the first day. 0.08% since the second day. Not only was it growing, but it was growing exponentially. She rather clumsily changed functions on the tricorder and did a calculation, silently glad she had paid attention to the cell division math that the doctor had taught her. At that rate of growth the bags would burst in just…. tap, tap, tap. Six hours.

Panic hit Naomi like a punch. _Wait a minute_ , she thought. _How am I the only one noticing this?_ _Shouldn't someone be doing a diagnostic on these things?_ But then she realized that the gel packs seemed to be functioning properly despite their increased size. Maybe no one did notice.

Without caring who saw her, Naomi pulled off the panel. She visually inspected the pack but it looked basically the same as it had three days ago. It was still blue and transparent. A crewman passed her in the hall and gave her a strange look. Naomi smiled awkwardly back at him. "I, uh….I lost my book," she said. Thankfully the man kept walking.

She put the panel back on and slumped to sit on the floor then studied the device in her hand. Was it possible that she was using it incorrectly? She was just a child after all. She really didn't want to make a fool of herself. But this was possibly the safety of the ship she was talking about. And the last time she felt this way, acting on her concerns had saved a life.

Maria Brooks said she had good instincts. She had to tell someone.

* * *

In the briefing room all of the senior staff was assembled. The Captain was getting ready to put Voyager in orbit of a planet that had some unusual readings coming from the surface. The problem was that this particular planet also had a very strong gravimetric ring they would need to navigate. It was going to be tricky at best to safely assume a position, but in the name of scientific exploration they were going to give it a try. The Captain was just about to adjourn so that they could commence with their plans when Lieutenant Torres's communicator chirped.

 _Naomi Wildman to Lieutenant Torres_

The captain stopped talking and looked at the engineer. Torres shrugged her shoulders.

"Torres here."

 _Uh….I'm um. I'm sorry to bother you Lieutenant._

Torres looked cautiously to the captain who motioned that she should hear the girl out. Naomi was never one to intrude, so for her to have contacted a senior officer during their shift something must have been amiss.

"Not a bother, what's up?" The Klingon replied.

 _I think there's something wrong._

B'Elanna's face turned concerned right along with everyone else who was listening in. "Something wrong with what Naomi?"

 _With the gel packs. I think they're growing._

All eyes were now firmly on B'Elanna's combadge. Commander Chakotay broke his glare to silently confer with the at the captain on his right.

"Naomi, this is Captain Janeway. Come to the senior briefing room on Deck 1 immediately."

The whole room heard Naomi swallow.

 _Yes ma'am._


	9. Captain's Instincts

**CHAPTER 9 – Captain's Instincts**

Naomi had never been so nervous in her entire life walking to the briefing room that afternoon. She felt just like Chell when he was more green than blue. But the safety of the people she loved quite possibly depended on the data she had collected. So she took a deep breath and went in.

Everyone watched as the little girl with blonde, braided hair entered. Tom Paris stood to offer her his seat which she accepted with a quiet 'thank you'. Naomi took a breath and then began at the beginning.

"Ensign Swinn gave me a tricorder. And I used it to scan the hallways. I wasn't looking for anything really, but a few days ago I found a spot with a gel pack behind it." She didn't think it was necessary to explain that she had also pulled off a panel and examined it personally, at three o'clock in the morning.

"Then I went on a scavenger hunt. To find all of the others. It took me three days but I found 54 of them."

"Impressive," Tuvok commented. Captain Janeway and the others were still watching her attentively.

"Go on," Janeway directed.

"I downloaded the data into my computer and I noticed that the gel packs I scanned today are bigger than the ones I scanned yesterday. And the first one, from three days ago, has grown 1.2%. I think they're going to burst."

B'Elanna was now out of her seat and headed for the girl. She took the tricorder and stood in front of one of the briefing room computers. In a minute, the chart that had taken Naomi over an hour to produce was in front of them. Naomi felt the tension level in the room rise.

B'Elanna spun and wordlessly locked eyes with the Captain. The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. The chief engineer and Harry Kim left in a full sprint, contacting others in engineering as they went. Tom was directed to the helm, something about moving them far away from the gravitational pull of the planet. Janeway, Seven and Tuvok went quickly behind him. Only Chakotay remained.

"Nice work," he said patting her on the back. "Let me walk you back to your quarters now."

* * *

Naomi spent the rest of the day on her bed, thumbing through her gilded fairy-tale book. She was trying not to think of the scurry of activity that was likely going on outside. She kept waiting for the lights to flicker or the red-alert klaxons to sound, but they never did. After a time, she laid her head down on her pillow and closed her eyes. She was very, very tired.

When she awoke several hours later, Naomi heard the sound of voices in the living area. She stumbled in to see Seven talking with her mother.

"Naomi Wildman," Seven greeted her.

"Hi Seven," she replied. "Is the ship okay?"

"Indeed. Thanks to your perceptiveness we will be fine. Had the gel packs failed while in an already precarious orbit, Voyager would have been in grave danger. Also the packs are critical to ships operation. Without them we would have been permanently, I believe the term is, 'dead in the water.'"

Naomi sighed.

Seven turned to Ensign Wildman. "I have come to get your mother. Her assistance is needed in accessing the lifeform which had infiltrated the gel packs."

"Life form?" Naomi asked, curiously.

The ensign spoke up. "There was an organism growing in the bio-gel. B'Elanna and the others transported non-native cells out of every pack on the ship. They're maturing in tanks in the lab. I have to go now, but I'll be back to tell you everything I find out later." Her mother came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Good job, sweetheart," she said.

* * *

Naomi enjoyed watching 'her' life forms grow during the next month. Though she never did understand exactly how they had gotten into the packs in the first place. She figured it didn't really matter. Strange things seemed to happen here on a regular basis and this was no different.

For a while she had monitored their growth under a microscope but they quickly turned from clusters of cells to tadpole-like creatures with four eyes and slimy fur. Around that time, Seven had informed the captain that a suitable planet had been found. They were now en route.

Naomi went to her mother's lab one last time to say goodbye to the tank of hundreds of little swimming creatures. She was alone, chatting with them as she had done in the past days. She had given most of them names, though she couldn't exactly tell which was which. They moved awfully fast for accurate identification. The girls were a little bit darker blue than the boys she had learned. And no, she wasn't allowed to keep even one as a pet.

The doors opened behind her and Commander Chakotay entered. "We're almost at the planet, Naomi," he said coming over to her. "Captain Janeway thought you might want to see their new home from the bridge."

Naomi smiled, waved goodbye to her little friends and left with her command-level escort. They rode silently in the turbolift. Just before the doors opened, Chakotay spoke nonchalantly. "Oh, and Kathryn thought you might like to do the honors."

Naomi never got a chance to ask what he meant. She was greeted with a sight that made her eyes widen with surprise. She stepped out cautiously, unsure what exactly was going on.

"Acting Captain on the Bridge," she heard Tuvok say. Commander Chakotay stood several paces behind her as she walked in. She stopped after a few steps to survey her surroundings. There were a lot of people on the bridge. Most of them were crowded around the upper deck and some on the lower ramp. Every single one stood at attention.

She regarded them all and saw the proud faces of the people who had gotten her this far. Biddle, Ashmore, Natalie, Danny Hey….Maria, Leslie, Pete and Chell; Mike Ayala and Megan Delaney. Doug Bronowski, even Baytart – who, upon seeing her, broke attention to take a big loud bite of a red apple. At this, she let out a giggle.

Her mother turned to her from the science station and gave a wink. Seven and the doctor both nodded their approvals with a smile. She got a thumbs up from B'Elanna. And Neelix….well, Neelix looked like he might simply burst. On the viewscreen, now becoming visible was the planet that her little lifeforms would soon call home.

She felt the commander come up close behind her. "Your seat is down there, Captain," he directed quietly. She could tell without looking that there were a couple of dimples behind his words.

The newly-minted commanding officer nodded and swallowed and addressed everyone. "As you were." The officers returned to their duty stations while the extra guests patted her on the back and congratulated her as they departed the bridge. She walked down the ramp to "her" chair. From the doorway to the ready room, Captain Janeway gave an approving smile.

Chakotay took the seat next to his child-captain and tapped some commands into the console between them. Then he leaned over to address her again quietly. "Tell Mr. Paris to put us in orbit."

Naomi's uncontrollable grin got even bigger. "Helm, put us in orbit," she ordered. "Please." From the corner, the real captain let out a chuckle.

"Yes ma'am," Tom replied, then did as she ordered.

For a few moments Naomi Wildman's trading experience had given her not just Voyager, but a whole planet.


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Naomi Wildman was sitting at her usual table in the mess hall the next morning. She was people watching and pleased to find that putting names to faces was a lot easier these days. Everyone that took notice of her stopped by to say 'hi', but she declined offers to join anyone. For now, she was content to just watch and replay yesterday's events in her mind.

She took a bite of her blueberry muffin and when she looked up, the Captain was coming through the doors. Naomi smiled. She liked seeing Captain Janeway around and now, silly as it was, she felt like she had something in common with the woman. As Janeway had done countless times, Naomi too had saved Voyager from the brink of destruction.

The girl watched as Janeway excused herself from pleasantries with Neelix, took her mug of coffee and came over.

"Good morning Naomi," Janeway said cordially.

"Hi Captain," she smiled back.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Oh, of course not," Naomi said. "It is your ship after all." The captain sat.

"I have something for you," Janeway said. She put a small box onto the table. "Consider it a thank you for saving _our_ ship."

Naomi stared wide-eyed at the woman in front of her. She couldn't believe it. The Captain was actually thanking her. She bit her lip and looked down at the box then opened it carefully. Inside was a little model of Voyager. It was only about ten centimeters long, but it was very ornate. She held it up and could see through the tiny windows. There were little people inside.

"Wow…" Naomi said under her breath. "It's so….."

"Small?" Janeway offered.

"I was going to say detailed. But yeah, it's incredible." Naomi continued turning it slowly in her hands.

"I was given that by Admiral Patterson a few days before Voyager launched from Proxima Station. It's one-of-a-kind, just like the real Voyager."

"I….uh…." Naomi struggled to find words. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," the Captain replied. "Just take good care of her."

Naomi smiled, "Yes, ma'am. I will. I definitely will."

Janeway took her leave while Naomi continued to study her newest possession.

"I can't believe it," she said as Neelix came over to join her. She held up the little vessel. "Look, I started with an apple."

Neelix beamed. "And you ended up with a whole starship."

"Even better than that. I got all the people in it."

* * *

 _Thanks for reading! Reviews always appreciated if you are so inclined._


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